Elder Makechnie Passes it On

A letter to the Amy, Gregor, Cope, Nelson, Brynne, and Paige Makechnie household.

Hello Makechnie Family!

It was great to hear your voices on Christmas day!  Thank you for talking with me!  I'm glad to have support from home!

So, I left Fort Collins late December and i just found out yesterday that one of the investigators that I connected with there got baptized and received the priesthood today (Sunday, 24, 2010).  I LOVE THAT!

Also today we set a 12 year old named Ely for baptism on the 27th February.  We have a baptism coming up on Friday for Noah Gamboa who is 10.  (Low hanging fruit).

So, anyways!  I'm with my MTC companion Elder Green...we could possibly hit our year mark together...that would be awesome.

Gregor...I haven't got a chance...but I just want to thank you for setting such a good example for me while I was growing up!  Thank you for baptizing me!  A lot of people don't get the chance to be baptized by a family member...let alone a brother.  So thank you for baptizing me and being there for me growing up.

So, how are the kids?  HI KIDS!  Are they being good in school and taking full advantage of living in NH?  I miss all the kids (it stinks not seeing you guys!)  How are things at home?  How are mom and dad?  I hear dad is tearin' it up at church!

Oh yes...silly me...AMY how are you?  What are you up to?  Thank you guys so much for setting an example in your marriage!

I hope all is well!

Love, Elder Makechnie.

Then, Elder Ian had a little note for Nelson, along with a spare missionary tag.  "Please give this to Nelson.  Tell him I'm proud of him...and that one day he'll wear one of these.  Future Elder Makechnie."

It just so happened that Nelson was giving a talk at church.  He wore the name tag and spoke about the special note from his uncle serving a mission.  The kids thought it was pretty neat.

"Wah-ah-ah-ah"  Nelson's maniacal laugh.  That might scare investigators.

Practicing the eye-brow raise.  That might scare them too.

Ah- but this look.  That's the one that will win 'em over!

Thank you Ian.  It was a special letter for us and a special surprise for Nelson.  Someday I hope he wears this tag just like you said:  the Future Elder Makechnie.

Ian to Glenn (Since Christmas)

01/19/2010
Hhhhhhhhokay soo...heres the news...that is sweet news you might say ShWeEt...I have a new recorder so I shal be sending a cd out pretty soon with recordings....Elder Green and I are doing really well...we went tracting the other day and placed to copies of the book of mormon...we have a baptism coming up...and we think well set one or 2 more this week.Our member brother Hadfield has a studio in his basement and he invited us over the other night to visit his house while he had to rapers recording a mix tape...he wanted them to be introduced to some missionaries because he thinks they see the missionaries walking around the city of denver a lot. So we got to listen to some rap haha...

01/25/2010
I sent you some mail today.....yeah REAL mail...weird!So this week went really well...we went on exchanges from tuesday-thursday...so the week went by WAY quick!On Thursday I was with Elder De La Cruz...they have a part member family in their ward and the member has a wife who is really sick...I shared some scriptures (Gen3:17-Acts14:22-2Cor12:8-10 and then finaly Cor10:13) I felt the spirit really strongly while I was reading and explaining and the guy cried a little....On Friday night we went over to the Parez famiy's house...he just recieved the Melichizideck priesthood a little while ago and they're getting ready to go to the temple....we love spending time with them...before the lesson we each crammed ourselves into the little fisher-price push cars....oh my goodness I haven't laughed that hard in a while...we have pictures.

02/08/2010
Yeah Saints...Finally! So this week was great...we played a prank on the ZLs...we had district meeting thursday at their house and then before we were done they had to leave...so once they were done we went into their room and uhhh rearranged their room...we put their beds together and made it look like one big bed...and in lue of feb 14th we put chocolates on the big bed in the shape of a heart...the blanket ontop was pink too HAHAHA....So that night they called us and told us that they thought it was funny........but their member didn't..they said their member had gone down into the room and saw what we did...they siad he had called President Ely and told him that he felt like we had broken his trust...They told us that President Ely had called them and was going to have to ET one of us out of the District but he was gonna have to pray about it...then while they were one the phone with us they said that he was calling them back and that we would talk in a bit.....5 minutes later they call back and tell Elder Green who is the current DL that he was getting transfered up to Laramie (outter darkness) with one of the companions that he had already had and that someone else was getting sent down with me....They played it off for a good 5 minutes untill they finally told us the whole thing was a joke and their member had never even seen the prank we played on them....They got us SOOOOOO BAD!... We taught a new investigator yesterday with one of the stake presidency their in one of the bishops offices before church...he said that he would be baptized...but we couldn't set a date because he has to work a few things out...but he stayed for all 3 hours of church and we're meeting with him again thursday...we also taught a family yesterday who we street contancted the plan of salvation with a member present and the family told us that they like having us over.... We have a bunch of progress happening in this area...lots of things are going well...LOVE YOU

02/15/2010
We developed a new investigator this week who we street contacted last week.. we gave hime a book of mormon and he said that we could come back...so one week later we come back and teach him the restoration...he was very attentive and participated. He told us that our message was really cool and agreed to be baptized if he found out that it was true. He's coming to the church on thursday night for a tour and a lesson. We had to give him a new BOM because his girlfriend took his to her work to read at lunch break...bummer right haha! We have 4 solid new investigators...2 are a couple that we taught the 3rd lesson yesterday...they told us that they really enjoy having us in their home and he said that 2 weeks before we showed up he was praying to find a new church...They Lord Prepares him.I found ECCOs for $4!!!!! they're almost brand new! How's it going?Love you!

02/22/2010
We had 5 investigators come to church!!!!!!!!! It was a family! They're the ones I was talking about before...We bore our testimonies to them in the lesson we had after church and they said the lesson was Powerful...he said hed be baptized when I prays and finds that it is true. Much love from Elder Mak.

Even More pics!

More Pics!

Pics!

2/14/2010

Mama and Papa!

How are you doing? I miss you.

I took care of my toe problem. We went to Salud Hospital and there was a doctor who is a member and he took real good care of me (I didn’t have to pay anything.) They had to draw blood though, and you know how much I don’t like that! There’s just something about seeing your own blood in a vial. Ahhhhh. I’m lucky I have good veins though, they never have to stick me twice.

Do you have a lot of snow? Dad, are you still doing your back exercises? Mom, is there still progress being made with the DVD situation? Are you still going to the temple on a regular basis?

Oh, Mom, thanks for that story you told me about the guy from Haiti in the temple… I’ve been telling it to a lot of people. This week went really well, we have four new investigators who are solid. We have one that we received as a referral from SLC Headquarters. He’s taken two lessons now, and come to Church once. He heard the Plan of Salvation lesson and said, “This is it.” He is also talking about either getting married or breaking up with the lady that he is living with because he wants to get baptized.

We have another investigator named Chris. We contacted him in his driveway and gave him A Book of Mormon. He told us to come back in a week. (And I actually could believe him when he said that. With some people they don’t really want you to come back, but he did, I felt.) So we went back this past Thursday and taught him the Restoration and it went REALLY WELL. He was very attentive, even though he had a baby in his arms, and he agreed with everything that we said, and answered questions very well. He said that when he found out that the message was true, he would be baptized. We’re gonna give him a Church tour and teach him the Plan of Salvation on Thursday. Oh…. And we had to give him another BOM because his girlfriend took the other one to read at work on lunch break! Ha! Ha!

Then we have a couple, the Peltiers. We street contacted them on Christmas Eve. We found out why we couldn’t get in for awhile. Then we taught them the third lesson, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, yesterday, It went really well. They were attentive as usual. After the lesson he told us once more that they like having us in their home because whenever we’re there, they feel comfort and they like the things we teach about. He told us that whenever he finds a church that he likes it is always good, but that he feels a void in them. He also said that he used to have mixed feelings about the “Mormon” church, but now, “I feel bad for not letting missionaries in before because now I know what you are all about. Now I know what you teach!” He went on to say that two weeks before we started teaching him he was praying to find a new church, so I guess that’s why we couldn’t get in before, he was not ready, but now he is. They are great people. Sister Taylor has been to two of their lessons so far. Sis Taylor reminds me a lot of Amy.

I just cut my own hair this morning. I must say it doesn’t look bad. I cut Elder Green’s hair, too, but that was easy because it is all one length. We saved about 10 bucks apiece, though.

Speaking of saving money, we went to the thrift store and I got nice new pants for a dollar and then I got a pair of Ecco shoes that look brand new for $4.00. Eccos are shoes that usually cost about $100.

Things are going really well in the Woodglen Ward! We love our members! Elder green and I just hit a year on Thursday, wow! And Elder L. Tom Perry will be here this Friday.

I, Ian, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in all the learning of my father and mother; and following the example of my brothers, am serving a mission for the Lord!

That was terrible grammar, but I thought it was cool!
Love
Elder Ian George Makechnie

02/10/2010

Mother and Father!

So it’s official… Elder Green and I will be together for three Valentines Days in a row. (MTC, now and when we are released at the MTC) We’re both staying for at least one more transfer, which means we’ll hit our one-year mark of our entering the MTC together. I cannot believe it’s already 2010. Ahhhhhhhh!

The Zone Leaders scared the stink out of us! They played such a prank on us. We’re pretty tight with them, so I guess we had it coming. They called Elder Green up on Saturday night to tell him transfer info (because Elder Green is the District Leader,) and they told him that he was going up to Cheyenne with an Elder that he has already served with, and they didn’t get along very well. He almost barfed. And then they told me that Elder (xxx) was going to be my companion. They lead us on for about two minutes, too. Then they finally told us that we would both be STAYING!

Oh, Elder Green just had a birthday (20) and he got a BUNCH of stuff, including a new digital camera, so he gave me his old one! I finally have a camera. You’ll be getting some pictures on email.

All right, story time. So back in Aurora, in my second transfer, while I was with Elder Taylor, we were visiting a part member family and they had a visitor. She was way funny…. and she was a less active from another ward that I didn’t know. When we left I told Elder Taylor, “Man…. that lady was awesome!” Then I went up to Fort Collins two transfers later. I was there for three months. Now I am in the Woodglen Ward in the North Denver zone. Anyways, to make a long story short… that amazing lady is in this ward, and we are helping her to come back! I called her yesterday and we figured out that we had met before.

Brother Vigil just asked me if I would ordain him to the Aaronic Priesthood.

We got two new investigators on Saturday that we had met street contacting a month ago. We taught them the Restoration of the Gospel and set an appointment for next Sunday.

Things are going very well with this area. The members like us a bunch. They LOVE elder Green.

(Yeah, and I love Elder Robinson. He’s my favorite AP EVER!)

Okay, so I put down my notebook for a bit to play some basketball, and Elder Robinson wrote the above, Ha! Ha! He actually IS a really good AP.

So Noah Gambosa (he was 10 years old, like me, when he was baptized) got baptized on Friday, and we set Eli for baptism the 27th. He’s another kid who is 12. His dad is coming back to activity. We’ve taught him the first two lessons.

Thank you for your email today. I shared with a bunch of Elders the fact that the church’s building in Haiti are still standing but the cathedrals collapsed.

Love you all.

02/02/2010

Hello parents!

How is it going over New Hampshire? What’s new? Have you taken a walk together lately in the woods? Or have you driven up into the mountains… or walked on a frozen lake. Have you made any snow angels? You have to keep it real! I miss doing these things in New Hampshire.

I think I already told you this.. but Elder Green and I are teaching a family that we street contacted the day before Christmas. Yesterday we taught them the Plan of Salvation with sister Taylor. You know Sis. Taylor, she’s the one who has been sending you the emails and pictures, and such… Sis Taylor is awesome. She is so willing to do missionary work.

By the way… about a week ago I talked this lady into making a “thingy drink” because she wanted dessert but hadn’t been able to make any – plus she had a plethora of bananas… so I made a “thingy drink” for her and I added peanut butter. She loved it and even wrote down the receipt.

We also got a chance yesterday to teach a new investigator the Restoration of the Gospel before Church started. He is a referral we got from the MTC call center and he is ready to hear the Gospel message. President Lough (who is the 1st counselor in the Stake Presidency here, and also lives in our ward) taught the lesson with us….. and because he has keys, we got to teach in the vacant Bishop’s office. Chris then came to all three sessions/hours of Church!

Then last night we got to sit in on a temple preparation class because a family named Perez is going to take/receive their endowments and be sealed. Elder Green has been working closely with them/ brought them back into activity. Bro and Sis Perez are awesome!

The rest of the week went pretty well. We’re still teaching a bunch. We went tracting for the Elect on Saturday – found four potentials.

Everything is going really well, all said and done. We have a lot going on in the area. Elder L. Tom Perry is coming to speak with us on the 19th!

Elder Green and I will hit a year on our missions on this Thursday. Wow!

02/08/2010

A letter to Mom from a ward member.

Hi,I had to write and let you know about our Testimony meeting yesterday. Almost everyone who bore their testimonies were less actives that the Elders have been working with. One after another kept coming up to the pulpit. One family had not been to church together in forever! The father in another family was ordained to the office of elder after church. I kept elbowing my husband and saying, "There's another family." Now we, as a ward, have to work hard to fellowship and hold on to these families, so their hard work doesn't go to waste. I told the Elders that I would write their Moms and let you know you should be proud!
Yesterday I went with them as they taught an investigator family who lives up the street from me. They were walking by a house one day and saw a woman shoveling her sidewalk with a little child's plastic shovel (that was the only shovel she had). The Elders took over and finished it for her and she said they could come back when her husband was home. They taught the second discussion yesterday and did a great job. The husband was interested. The wife wasn't saying much, but she was friendly, so they're going back again next week. The spirit was there and I know the family felt it, they just didn't know what they were feeling.
Here are a few more pictures Elder Makechnie wanted me to send to you. My kids just got some nerf guns. Now when the Elders come, there's always a pre-dinner war. My kids try to ambush them when they come through the door. Last time Elder Makechnie snuck around to the back door and surprised them as Elder Green knocked on the front door. In one of the pictures the Elders are trying out a new way of giving out Book of Mormons. There also another "smoking" picture that Elder Makechnie wanted me to send.
Have a good day,Dawn

01/25/2010

Ian's letter to Mom.

HI MOM...we have a new e-mail account apparently...I don't know if it shows up any different but...the church connected with the people from Gmail and made our new missionary accounts.Hows the rain going? This week we set another kid (age 12) for baptism his dad isn't really active...but he came to church for the first time in a long time yesterday. We've still teaching a lot.Elder Green and I figured out that if we're together one more transfer that we will have been together for 2 valintines days in a row...and we will be together in the mission home getting ready to go home next valintines day in 2011 HAHAHAHAHAHA. missionsite.net/elderloganpgreen that site has some pictures from Christmas on it.

1/15/2010

Ian's letter to Mom.

Good Day MOTHER!!!!I got your package...THOSE PINE NEEDLES SMELL AWESOME!!! I SLEEP WITH THE BAG! Thanks for the cookies aswell.We went to the temple this week on thursday... I was able to pick up some new spiritual info...My companion Elder Green and I are getting along really well...we're teaching A LOT! He's the new District Leader too.
I'm going to use the wallmart money to buy a digital recorder. then maybe I'l be able to send recordings home. Buck's on an all grain diet HAHAHAHAHAa thats classicI love you and I hope all is well!

01/04/2010

Ian's letter to Mom.

As Nephi says, life passes as a dream! Yeah I liked talking to everyone on the
phone but its kinda difficult for me to talk to everyone and show emotion at the
same time...I guess I'm weird...B and I were talking after you guys hung about
how its hard to express what I've been doing in a short phone call...he was
telling me how he understands that as a missionary you're in a completely
different mind set...and you really can't describe to someone what how you're
mission is going because it is beyond words (by the way Lori e-mailed me and
told me that her experience at the temple was beyond words...I digress) we were
just talking about it in church yesterday...you don't know what its like to be a
professional football player untill you are one...you really don't know what
it's like being a full time missionary untill you do it...you really don't know
if doctrine is true untill you act upon it....and once you do its hard to
describe it to somone...its like trying to describe what salt tastes like to
someone who has never tasted salt...."it tastes......salty?" I have awesome
brothers...did you know that haha? anyways...things are going well...since I've been here we've found 4 new investigators...and we've been teaching a lot...Elder Green and I get along
really well....we're about to go to the temple on thursdayby the way your mother and father mailed me for christmas...really nice hearing from her! There is an Elder in the zone right next to ours who is from Nashua (Elder Logan Yarmo)..Mission President was thinking about putting us together...but didn't...maybe next time.

It was great hearing your voice mom...and tell dad to grow his beard
back!!!....when I come back I'm going to.
I LOVE YOU!

12/14/2009

Tings here are are going really well as of this past week. We found 3 new investigators...one is the mother of a less active named Glen (one n...and he is from New Hampshire...who knew)...we taught her the first lesson on thursday night. She didn't want to accept the baptismal invitation...but she said we could come back and continue teaching her.Are tracting efforts on wednesday yeilded 2 new investigators...The guy is an oral surgon and he knows our bishop who is a dentist. We taught them a lesson on the atonement and following the commandments...left them with 2N31 to read.One of our investigators Lori Krauss is getting baptized this saturday. YESSSSS!!!!!!2 of the people in our teaching pool are very promissing...they're both investigators from a part member family. One of them is Dan Nelson...because he came to church this Sunday his wife came to church for the first time in years. YESSSS!!!So tings are going well here in FO.CO....by the way I'm in Fort Collins...at one point it was ranked like 10th in the nation for best city/town....
Transfers are coming up here pretty soon...No Idea whats gonna happen.
TATE IS HUGE...by the time I get home he'll probably be hitting baseballs and throwing lacrosse balls around.
I'm glad you've secured a job! I'm glad you guys had such an awesome thanksgiving.

Story. Small World.

I got a call last night from a woman in Fort Collins, Colorado. "Hello, I am a divorced member of the Church living here in Fort Collins. I approached my Bishop about the possibility of housing missionaries. He said that there was a list. Two days ago he called and said that the new missionaries' housing had fallen through, and could I take them in? So last night I welcomed two young men, one of whom is an Elder Makechnie. As I tried to orient the young men to their new living arrangement, I found Elder Makechnie to be distracted. He was playing with a toy that had belonged to my father, and couldn't seem to focus on what I was saying. So to get his attention, I asked him where he is from, and he enthusiastically said, "New Hampshire!" and hauled out a map. I protested that I didn't need to see a map to know about New Hampshire, but he proceeded to point out Andover anyway. I said, 'Elder, follow me.' I took him upstairs to the study and pointed to an oil painting. 'Where do you suppose that farmhouse is?' I asked him. 'Well, it sure looks like New England,' he answered. 'And what lake do you think that is in the background?' 'Well, it sure looks like Lake Winnipesaukee,' he answered sheepishly. "And do you know, I attended the Laconia Branch of the Church?' 'Wow! Really? Did you know an old lady there that was..... like.... the first Mormon in New Hampshire?' he asked. "Do you refer to Rhea Guild, Elder?' I asked. "Yeah! I was at her funeral!' he exalted. I went over to the computer and pushed a few keys and up popped a slide show of her funeral. 'Hey, there's Brother Tom Morrison!' he shouted. 'And Brother Stephenson, and there's my Mom... and there's ME!'Pretty sure I had his attention now, I pointed to myself on the screen and said, 'I spoke a the funeral. Rhea Guild was my mother, I am Marsha Guild Gibbs."
It's a small world, after all.Sister Gibbs also told me that Elder Makechnie's new companion is from American Samoa, and that they spent the better part of the day yesterday trying to get news off the internet, after the awful tsunami. So far, it seems that the news is good.

Transfer

We're on timed computers today... That conference was awesome!!! I always love it when Uchtdorf talks but this time is was Geoffrey R Holland's talk that hit the hardest. He is so powerful!!! Uchtdorf;s talk on work and learning was very good as well...and I also really appreciated the new apostle's talk....repentence and remembering sin really stuck out to me.The new area is beautiful but I've got to watch out for the pre tty women here...it near a college campus..... Did Sis Gibbs tell you who her mom is?Thank you for your post card.I love you

And the Newest

Hey Ma!... I'm getting tranferred to Fort Collins. I've been in Buckley ward here in Aurora for 6 months now and I guess The Lord and Mission President feel it’s time to move on.My time here ended very well! This week was a lot of fun.Norm and Edy were baptized and confirmed!!!I'm going to really miss them. They are like family! I'm going to miss my companion as well. I learned a lot from being with him. We have planted seeds in this area together that will be harvested soon.We met with Kelly (soon to be) Gott. They still need to be married. She's still ready for baptism.We also met with Erin. We taught a lesson with Sister Jen that went very well. She has some questions about the Doctrine and Covenents.We also met with Al for the first time in a while. He is always happy to see us. If he takes all the lessons and really prays, then he will be a very strong member.The O'Briens came to church. They are an awesome family!!! They have a lot to offer this ward. He's from Australia... I want that accent! This week was a little different because we had Elder Escobar with us for the most of it... Being with two other missionaries all the time is kinda fun, actually. 6 months went by fast!!! Work was fun...I hope I did enough in this ward. What do I want for Halloween... PICTURES OF THE FAMILY... pictures of the fall...a letter...Edna's cookies...Updates on how the Patriots are doing...How the Red Sox are doing...Maybe some money so that I can buy new garments. I love you! Pray for the people in my new area to be receptive.

Pics

Several new posts from Mom

March 16, 2009
I love you!...I don’t have much time to write but I have a letter coming to you soon.
I'm in the Arvada zone...Huron District...Elder Cazier and I are in the Savory Ponds ward.
I love you...Can't wait to here more from you!!!!

July 16, 2009
Dear Mom and Dad,
Is it really July 13th?...I can remember July 4th 2008 like it was yesterday...
My mother is 59...by the way I don't think I ever wished you happy birthday!!! HAPPY 59th Ma! Dad's 72 WOW...that young man is still cruisin’ huh?
The nieces and nephews are growing faster and faster. Grace is already 1?
I'm almost 6 months into this mission!!! I feel like I've been here for maybe a month?
I think I'm set on ties for now. I could use some socks... and a short sleeved white shirt if it’s possible. Some church music would be very nice as well...MO-TAB or not.
Gregor finally got a dog? That’s great!
Elder Leafa is awesome!...He has a very strong testimony and he loves to bear it whenever we talk to anyone. Things are going very well...we're moving in an awesome direction. In a typical week we might get one or two potential
investigators... This first week with Elder Leafa we were able to get 9.
I'm gonna try to get a letter written today for you...it takes me soooo long...I'm terrible.
I love you!

March 30, 2009
How goes it for the Clan Makechnie?
Yes indeed...I received the package with the bike stuff while I was in the MTC. I have also received the package with the ties...4 of the so far THANK YOU!!! I LIKE! Ties are good and so are cookies! (You sent me my wrangler jeans and they don't fit...they were tight a year ago... I tried to put them on the other day and they bearly fit without even buttoning them hahahahaha...my GAP jeans do fit) I do enjoy receiving packages...but not as much as receiving letters.
I'm sorry I haven't been able to write that much. I thought it was going to be a lot easier writing home. It takes me so long to write letters...very little time to do it! I'll try to do better in that department. So the work has been fun. We found some potential investigators this week.

May 26, 2009
Dear Mom and Dad,
Elder Taylor and I are moving about 15 houses down the road. We're moving in with an older couple. Their story is very interesting. Some of it is kinda "classified info" so I can't talk much about it. I hope that having missionaries in their home will be helpful. They're AWESOME people and we love spending time with them! This is the beginning of transfer 3.
Whats your favorite scripture?
Talk to you next week
I love you!

6/1/09
Dear Mom and Dad,
We love the Davis's. I think that they are one of the major reasons that I'm in this area...so that I can learn from them and that I and my companion can do some good in their lives.
We're getting farmers’ tans. On our last tracting experience we had the opportunity to place 2 copies of the Book of Mormon. Both people said that we could come back. I had an experience that proved to me that some people can be taught many times by many different people...and that will be a good thing and it will most surely make a difference in their life...but some times the right person/missionary will come along and reach them on a different level....and maybe that missionary/person will present something in a new way that will have a greater
effect on them. Some people just need a lesson put into a different perspective. Also never underestimate doing good. Sometimes you won't see the effect till much later down the road...sometimes you won't ever see the difference...but it is there!!!
I love you!
Thank you for the prayers!

Dear Sister Makechnie,
Here are some pictures we took on Sunday of your son. Thought that you might enjoy having them. We are Elder Makechnie's host family and want you to know that we thoroughly enjoy having him in our home. You can be very proud of your son. We are leaving for a couple of weeks and won't be here for his birthday, so we celebrated it on Sunday. I know he misses his family very much, but is working very hard at doing the Lord's work. I'm sure we don't have to tell you what a nice young man you raised. Enjoy and be very, very proud of the work he is doing.
May God Bless you,
Norm and Edie Davis




9/8/09
Dear Dad,
Eldow Pond with G and B's family!!! You guys are lucky! B sent me the clip. The kids are really growing up huh! Dad, Mom has been and always will be great with children. You are too!... When the kids come to the kitchen they always want to see Grampa! You are a great example to them! Does Gregor like the job? I'm glad the working environment around you is more hospitable. This was a good change for me. Work is great. We are accomplishing a lot. We're learning along the way. We're not perfect but we're slowly finding and teaching. I think that we are working as diligently as 2 weeks ago. Hope Proctor has a good feel to it still... Growing up there was great. I hope you are getting the chance to enjoy the green! And soon the foliage!
I hope that one of these days you can watch one of the football games....is Gregor still coaching that?
I love you Dad!

9/14/09
Dear Mom and Dad,
This week went well. We've been able to gain a friendship with one of our new investigators named Colleen. She is still undergoing Chemo. (She’s 37 with 2 kids and divorced) Her family is very supportive and aren't against having missionaries come over to their daughter’s home. She has agreed to come to church on Sunday and to eat with us and a member on Thursday evening.
We weren't able to see as many of our investigators this week as we would have liked but that wasn't due to lack of effort. We have been working diligently.
We were able to establish 2 new investigators this week (Kevin and Lyndsey) They want to hear all that we have to say...so we will soon be teaching them more lessons. I have been self-reflecting lately. I don't feel as though I'm the best missionary I could be. This is a great ward...a lot can be accomplished here. Thus far on the mission I've been a part of 1 baptism. I know that numbers don't mean a whole lot. I know it’s about loving people and helping them progress...but 1 is a pretty big indicator to me that I'm doing something wrong. I've been out now for about 7 months... Yes I've learned a lot... Yes I feel like I've helped people and I'm serving the Lord... but I feel like I could be doing a lot more.
Elder Escobar (Zone Leader) and I had a chat after exchanges...I told him that I feel like I need to be more sincere. I need to teach with more conviction. I need to be more bold.
I know I think too much and I just need to DO...But I feel as though when I stop worrying then I stop caring.
I know that I've made personal progress on the mission...but I want to help other make personal progress.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

9/27/09
From new converts Norm and Edie to Art and Heather Makechnie
Thought you might enjoy these pictures of your son. You have a very special spirit as a son and we are going to miss having him here in our home. We have come to love him very much. It was very meaningful and special having him as part of our baptism and confirmation as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The pictures of him in the kitchen is his baking cookies for the baptism. He said he was using the secret Makechnie family recipe for Chocolate Chip Cookies. Everyone enjoyed them and they were all the more special because Elder Makechnie baked them.
Just as a side note, your son needs more mail from home. Everyday when he comes in he will ask if there is any mail for him and when we tell him no he is very disappointed.
You did a great job of raising him. You can be proud.
Blessing to you both,
Norm and Edie Davis

September 29, 2009
From Barbara Muggelston, a former Nashua Ward member, now of Aurora, Colorado,
Heather,
How are you doing? I got a phone call from one Elder Makechnie this noon-time asking me to come to a baptism this afternoon at 4pm. Apparently, the couple that the boys are living with got baptized and your son baptized Norm, and Elder Leafa baptized Edith. It was a nice baptism and i was honored that he would ask us to go!!!
I didn't realize that it was Elder M's 1st baptism, which is so cool because I also found out that he is being transferred to Ft. Collins which is about an hour and a half from Aurora. He made, from scratch, last nite, choc. chip cookies for the refreshments today. He was pretty pleased with himself and the cookies were quite tasty!!
Anyway, you should be proud of him, he is doing great. All of the elders looked so nice, they must've all got hair cuts on their p-day this week!! I have the mission office address so will try to keep in touch with him. I'm sure he will do great, his ward will miss him and so will my family!
My mom comes home from N.H. on Monday and she has had a great time. She did spend some time in Nashua last week and was amazed at how different it is now.
Well, you take care, thought you'd like to know about Elder Makechnie's day.

9/28/09
From Barbara Muggelston, a former Nashua Ward member, now of Aurora, Colorado,
Hi Heather,
So, I snuck into the Buckley Ward to hear the boys do the confirmations from last night’s baptisms. He did great! He is an awesome missionary, I hope that you will one day be able to see and feel all the good he has done so far. We will miss him,
I wrote him a good-bye letter and will keep in touch via the mail and I will of course send him some goodies from time to time.
I love all these wonderful boys and am so appreciative of the fact that they have been brought up righteously to serve missions for the Lord. I want you to know that I love your son and have been grateful to be a little part of his life!!!
One day, hopefully, we can meet. Til then I hope that we can stay in touch!
Thank you for raising a righteous young man . He is, in my eyes, a giant in the Gospel!!
With love,
Barbara

Several Posts... I'm a slacker!

Sorry.... I have neglected my posting duties! Here are several emails from everyone's favorite Elder.

-Glenn (The slacker)

7/06/2009

The 4th went well then huh? Thats great that you were able to spend time with
Glenn, Kim and Tate. Good job on the town flag too!

I'm getting a new companion from Samoa named Elder Laofa. He comes here tonight.

Elder Taylor is getting transferred up to Loveland. He'll be a District Leader
and he'll be training a missionary straight from the MTC.






7/20/2009

HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY!!!
This week went by in a blink of an eye!
Lots of awesome things happened!
The highlights for the week (investigator wise) are Fred, Robert and
Oscar!...All three are African American...I don't know why but a lot of black
people really like talking with us and we feel like we can relate to them. We
mostly fellowshiped with Fred. He's a cop. He's from Cincinati...I have no idea
how to spell that...and he can really talk!...next time we'll try our best to
get the first lesson in.
Robert...yesterday we taught most of lesson 2 to him because he seemd to have a
bunch of questions that related to this lesson..it went really well. One thing
that Elder Leafa (Lay-off-uh) is really good at is testifying. He does it a lot
and with power and you know it really makes a difference...I've been doing
better at this because of him. People really know that we care about and meen
what we're saying.
Oscar and Cassandra...They had an experience with the mission
aries about 20
years ago when she needed a place to stay and other help. They really gave her
help without hesitation and she never forgot about them and what they did for
her. He has never forgoten it either. Now 20 years down the road here we come.
Elder Taylor was the one who tracted into them...they said come back later. Now
on friday we went to his house while he was painting and offered to help. He
didn't want us to help because we were dressed well. But it turns out the next
day he would need a latter and we were able to get it to him. When we delivered
the later we stayed and talked with him for about 2 hours (your not supposed to
do that)...but he was really attentive and asked a lot of questions. We gave him
a copy of the Book of Mormon and bore witness of it. We talked about topics from
the 1st, 2nd and 3rd lesson. He said he'd read. I beleive him! Next time we go
though well keep it to an hour.

Elder Leafa and I both gave talks on Sunday about member missionary work. My
talk was geared toward conversion and testimony and being an example. I talked
about Enos and how after he had recieved a remission of his sins he was
concerned about his bretheren the Nephites. We need to gain our own testimonies
each and every one of us. We need to let out lights shine and it says in 3Nephi
12:14-16. You cannot convert someone past your own conversion.

7/27/2009

HEHEY!
We have established a new investigator this week. We have to open/close with
prayer and have a return appointment to establish a new investigator. ...He's
really searching for the truth...he is eager to talk with us again. Yesterday
the things that we presented him filled in a lot of blank spaces for him...I
feel that as we go along in the lessons more and more blank spaces will be
filled up and he will gain a desire to be baptized.
We have another whom we are seeing tonight.

Things went very well this week. I love setting return appointments with people.
Members/Investigators/new investigators and so on.
We have recently been leaving members with the commitment to place a book of
mormon in the upcomming weeks. Ward involvment is key. New refferals will come.

8/03/2009

This week went really well...We were able to find 4 new investigators.
I'm not one to focus too much on numbers, but we taight 21 lessons...maybe I'm just not a steller Elder, but thats a pretty good number atleast from what I've seen thus far in the Mission.

Two of the six new investigators that have developed here in the Buckley ward this Transfer are very promising. They really like it when we come and teach lessons. Oscar has told us that a lot of the things that he's learning are filling in the blanks. The questions that he's had all of his life are being answered.
Son Mason is the other man who seems to really enjoy us being in his home. Last night he said that some of the cob-webbs were being swept away. He said that he could feel something different about Elder Leafa and I. That was awesome.
Both of these investigators have said that they will pray to know if Joseph Smith is a Prophet, and if the Book of Mormon is true.
I'ts awesome to see when the message is really having an effect with people!
I think it's awesome when we extend that commitment to people. "Will you pray with real intent to know if what we have told you is true? If Joseph Smith is a prophet and if the Book of Mormon is true." Then we bare our testimony and tell them that we know that its true. Then we say... "Don't take our word for it. Pray for yourself to find out. Heavenly Father loves you and he well give you an answer if you ask in faith".
I think that when we present it in this way its very effective. They know that we're not forcing anything on them. They know that we know its true. They also know that because we know its true we know that Heavely Father will tell them that it is.

We've been getting into the rhythem.

This week was a lot of fun.

06/2/2009

We were able to go to the Temple on Saturday. That was refreshing! This week was full of missionary experiences. We we able to go tracting with two members (at different times)...We were invited into 1 house with each of the members we went with. It's awesome to get member support.
Yesterdays Sacrament meetnig was very cool. There was a woman who was speaking on forgiveness. I'm currently reading about the story in Genisis when Joseph was sold into Egypt. She used this story in her talk. She also included a few things that I had been thinking about. I know that we all need to work on forgiveness. It's amazing much the atonement effects our lives. It can and should be applied to every aspect of our lives.
There are so many people here... members and non-members that I've grown to really appreciate! I hope I never forget them.
I love you! have fun with Mom and Dad!